Mower pull a family tradition at summer celebration

Friday

Jul 4, 2014 at 3:31 PM

By Jim.Hayden@hollandsentinel.com(616) 546-4274

Speedy. Dad’s Toy. Bandit. Pretty in Pink. They all took a back seat to The Lil’ One at the Rabbit River Pullers lawn mower tractor pull at the Graafschap Summer Celebration on Friday.The pull was one of many events at the festival centered at the Graafschap Church, 5973 Church St.The Lil’ One — aka Zachary Westrate, 4, of Zeeland — led off the competition of several dozen lawn mowers, his dad, Matt, leading him down the dirt track behind the church.“It’s a reasonably priced hobby to get involved in,” said Joshua Driscoll of the mower club. All it takes is a riding lawn mower. What you do with the mower, and how much money you put into it for modifications, is up to you.“It goes all the way from stock to custom,” Driscoll said as he worked on his mower engine before the pulls.Hannah Bosch, 14, and her brother Logan, 9, added a little custom touch to their mowers. Hannah’s was named Speedy and Logan painted a green monster on the front of his.Four-year-old Zachary didn’t have much to say after he completed his pull — his huge smile said it all as he ran through the crowd giving high-fives.Zachary’s parents also participated in the pull, his mom, Jessica, riding the Pretty in Pink mower that tossed up dirt from the track on its pull.“That was a huge run,” Matt said to his wife above the buzz of the engine as she prepared for her second run.The event raised money for the Vander Zwaag family.Tim Vander Zwaag was severely injured Dec. 7 when the spinning power take-off (PTO) shaft of the tractor caught his Carhartts and pulled him into the space where the PTO connects to the manure spreader. The spinning PTO beat him against the spreader, pulled off all his clothes and tossed him into the snow.After managing to get back on the tractor, Vander Zwaag drove to a nearby road for help.— Follow Jim Hayden on Twitter@SentinelJim.